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Instrumental hitmakers tended to be one-hit wonders. The exceptions were a ’60s trumpeter who pretended to be Latin, and an ’80s sax player named Kenny.

What got them so excited?

There was no 3rd British Invasion—’90s U.K. bands made British music for Britons: Britpop—popular at home but with rare exception not across the Atlantic.

In the mid-’60s and again in the mid-’80s, being British went from liability to asset on the U.S. charts, as U.K. bands taught the Yanks some new moves.